Negotiated link speed question

Question

Negotiated link speed question

My 2011 MBA shipped with the SM128C Apple SSD. In system profiler, I see this, of note is the difference between Link Speed and Negotiated Link Speed:

Negotiated Link Speed is half of the true Link Speed of the drive(?). Is there a reason for this? I've read accounts from Macbook Pro users who upgraded to SSDs doing SMC resets in order to bump up link speed, but everything I could dig up here and elsewhere doesn't seem to pertain to Airs. I don't really understand what the factors are, in determining Link Speed. Any help would be terrific!

Thanks,

Chris

Posted on Jan 22, 2012 1:02 AM

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Answer 1

Jan 25, 2012 12:24 PM in response to ChrisVandergaag

Hi Chris, I checked mine and it also shows half on negotiated link speed, so does my Macbook Pro (with a hdd drive). Seems to be stock configuration for some reason, power saving maybe?

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Answer 2

Jan 25, 2012 1:50 PM in response to ChrisAr155

Found the answer - turns out Apple is still shipping SATA ii firmware with SSDs, which tops out at 3Gb/s. 2011 MBAs will accept 6G drives (which I have just bought from OWC - wow, that thing is snappy), but 3Gb/s is correct for drives Apple ships.

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